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19/4/17

On
November 14th, 2016, a TV crew from National Geographic Latin
America visited the NASA Johnson Space Center campus in Houston with the
purpose of creating the Latin-American version of the
TV series “Brain Games” in regards to neuroscience and how it is applied to real life situations. The show called
“Asombrosamente” or “Amazingly”, seeks to demonstrate the application of
neurosciences in daily life, as well as the
brain functions during stimuli such as food and flavors, movement, perception,
mental training, emotions and memory.

The
NatGeo team selected a few talented individuals who are high achievers and recognized in the
Hispanic community from the city of Houston. Among these individuals,
Leidos IS&GS employee, Dorothy Ruiz, a satellite engineer who works as a
Ground Controller in Mission Control was selected to talk about how working in
Mission Control as a Flight Controller exemplifies these “amazing” brain
responses during space operations requiring immediate action to keep the Crew
and the International Space Station safe while focusing on mission success.

Dorothy
Ruiz and three other colleagues (Tom Holmes, Bill Foster, and Lawrence Moore)
from the Ground Control (GC) group came up with a scenario and went through the
motions of a mini simulation while the Nat Geo team was filming, to demonstrate
a real mission control situation in space operations. The scenario involved a
potential loss of communications between the vehicle and the ground due to a
fault in an upcoming satellite while the crew is performing a critical
procedure onboard the vehicle. In order to prevent this loss of communication,
the GC has to save the day by acting fast and applying all the skills needed to
get another satellite in a timely manner so the crew can continue on with their
critical operations. At the end of the simulation, Dorothy
explained on camera how the scenario relates to each brain stimuli, such as
movement, perception, mental training, emotions an memory.

A real
life situation such as this scenario involves immediate coordination, therefore
requiring fast movements to access and monitor different tools to perceive the
problem and evaluate the situation. It also involves different movements
combined with emotions while communicating and reporting the situation to the
team in order to transmit reassurance, trust, and a handle of the situation. An
example of this is standing up in the flight control room to convey a sense of
urgency to the Flight Director in regards to the situation while remaining calm
and focused. In such scenarios, the GCs must provide a fast but safe
solution for mission success, knowing exactly what procedures to access, and
the steps to take during such a high tense situation, exercising mental
training and memory.

The
NatGeo team was amazed by the scenario exercised by the GC team and how well it
fits the show objectives. As one can see, being a Ground Controller in
Mission Control Houston is no brain game, it is truly “asombroso”; an amazing
example of the leadership and values displayed during day to day mission
operations. The episode will air all over Latin America sometime in the
spring of 2017.